West Virginia Statewide Files WV-Footsteps Mailing List WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 107 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: WILLIAM A. COX, Barbour Count [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991110200838.00bdc150@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: WILLIAM A. COX, Barbour County, WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 304-305 Barbour WILLIAM A. COX. While his residence has not been con- secutive, William A. Cox was one of the first citizens of Junior in Barbour County, and has played a varied part in the affairs of that mining center. For the greater part of his life from boyhood until he retired he was engaged in mining and coal operations, and it was hard labor that won him substantial success. He was born in Monongalia County, West Virginia, April 30, 1859, son of William Purnel and Sara Jane (Myers) Cox. His father who was born in Fairmont, in November, 1837, and died in the same city March 19, 1902. He was a boy playmate of Governor Pierpont, the first governor of West Virginia. He could not serve in the Union Army on account of some physical disability. He was a coal miner, and in later years a teamster. He was a republican and a member of the Christian Church. His wife was born in Pennsylvania, but near Blacksville, West Virginia, in August 1839, daughter of William and Mary E. (Walker) Myers. Her grandfather came from Germany and founded the family in this country. Mrs. Sarah Jane Cox is now living at Parkersburg, in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Annie Fleming, and has attained the age of eighty-three. Her children were: William Azareal; Mary, who died at Parkersburg in 1917, wife of William Haught; Clara, who died unmarried; John M., of Jackson County; Mrs. Annie Fleming; Minnie, wife of Frank Morris, of Parks, Texas; Lloyd; and Ella, Mrs. Omer Dils; of Ravenswood, West Virginia. William A. Cox when a boy went with his parents to Germantown, Ohio, where his family had their home until 1867. Returning to West Virginia, they located at Pala- tine, now the First Ward of Fairmont. William A. Cox had little opportunity to attend school, and most of his reading and study were done by the light of the open fire in his home. At the age of fourteen he went into the mines with his father as a coal digger, later as mule-driver, and subsequently as boss driver. From Fairmont he went to Wilsonburg, where he dug coal four years, and in 1880 removed to George's Creek, Maryland, and dug coal in the Big Vein Mine there. In the fall of 1883 he opened a mine for the Atlantic and George's Creek Consolidated Company in Mineral County, and for this company was sub- sequently roadman and night boss. He returned to Fair- mont, and for a year was with the Aurora mines, and then returned to Elk Garden, to the Atlantic Mine. In 1892 he made two openings at Womelsdorf for the Womelsdorf Coal Company, and the following year established his fam- ily there. It was from Womelsdorf that he came to Junior in 1894. That place was still called Rowtown, and the name Junior was given the locality in honor of Junior Davis, a son of Senator Henry Gassoway Davis. Mr. Cox helped incorpo- rate Junior as a town, carried the chain when the town- site was surveyed, and he was chosen the first mayor of the new corporation. In the fall of 1894 he went to work in the local mine, later was promoted to mine foreman, and spent seven years with the Davis Coal Company. From here he removed to Lillian as superintendent of the Balti- more Smokeless Coal Company, and was promoted to general manager before he left the service of that company a few years later. This was his last active work as a coal man, though he has been more or less directly or indirectly interested in coal mining. For eighteen months he was a road sales- man ior the Friction Rail Brake Company of Charleston, and gave up that business to take up the study of chiro- practic at Belington, and practiced that profession at Middleport, Pomeroy and Racine, Ohio, and at Red Fork, West Virginia. For ten years Mr. Cox was in business at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, as proprietor of the Keystone Bottling Works. He made a success of the business, but probably expended more arduous labor in doing so than in any other occupation that engaged him. On leaving Greensburg in 1915 Mr. Cox returned to Junior, and took the first real vacation he had ever had. For about two years he lived at Parkersburg, assisting in the care of his aged mother, and did not leave her until her health was completely restored. Mr. Cox grew up in a republican household, but east his first presidential vote for James B. Weaver of Iowa, the populace and greenback candidate. He was reared a Methodist and leaned toward that faith, though his mother is a member of the Christian Church. Mr. Cox was made an Odd Fellow in Philos Lodge at Westernport, Mary- land, in 1881, is a past noble grand of the lodge and a past grand representative. He became a member of the Knights of Pythias at Piedmont, West Virginia, and is a past chancellor of that Lodge and has sat in Grand Lodge a number of times. In March, 1902, he instituted a Knights of Pythias Lodge at Junior, and was made its first chan- cellor. At Oakland, Maryland, November 23, 1882, William A. Cox married Miss Addie L. Fimple, daughter of John T. and Mary (Compton) Fimple, the latter a daughter of Henry Compton. The Fimples are a family of French ori- gin, and her grandfather, Job Fimple, was the first to come to West Virginia. John T. Fimple was a Union soldier in the Civil war, under Capt. T. Maulsby. Mrs. William A. Cox died September 23, 1893, mother of the following children: Mary J., wife of William Hunt, of Junior; W. Fred, who lives at Junior and married Amy Valentine; Grace, wife of William Miller, of Junior; Howard Dawson, of Junior; Myrtle, wife of Frank Pingley, of Lebanon Church, Virginia; and Charles, of Junior. Howard D. Cox is one of the prominent coal operators at Junior. He had a public school education, and at the age of fifteen went to work in the mines with his father. On leaving the mine work at Lillian he spent three years in the stone quarry business as an employe of R. G. Has- kins of Barbour County. For another three years he worked in the mines and paper mills at Luke, Maryland, and Junior, West Virginia. For the following year he was at Winter Haven, Polk County, Florida, in the service of his old employer, Haskins, who was promoting an orange grove. On returning North he became associated in 1911 with his father in the bottling business at Greensburg, but on April 1, 1915, returned to Junior and again took up mining for the Davis Colliery Company. In August, 1916, he was made machine man for the Gage Coal and Coke Company, and since December of the same year has been that company's mine foreman as successor of Opha G. Shomo, who lost his life by accident at the mine. Howard D. Cox was one of the active promoters of the Merchants and Miners Bank of Junior, has served it as director continuously and is its vice president. He also helped organize the Mildred Coal Company, was its first vice president and has been in charge of its operations. He has been a member of the Town Council of Junior and town recorder, and during the war was one of the leaders in the locality in promoting the sale of bonds and other securities. For almost a year he was acting postmaster of Junior. He is a republican, a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, and fraternally he joined the Junior Lodge of Odd Fellows at the age of twenty-one, is a past noble grand, and in Masonry is a member of the Lodge at Belington, the Royal Arch Chapter at Philippi, and the Consistory at Wheeling. December 14, 1912, Howard D. Cox married Hattie Price, daughter of Israel and Harriet (Arbogast) Price. She was born on a farm in Randolph County, West Virginia, September 29, 1893. The oldest child of her parents is Sherman, who has rounded out ten years of service with the Regular Army and was with the American Contingent of troops in Russian Siberia. Francis, the next son, lives at Grafton. George is a resident of Junior. The two youngest are Mrs. Cox and Israel, twins. Israel was a soldier in the famous Rainbow Division in France, and was with the first troops to reach Coblenz with the Army of Occupation. Mr. and Mrs. Howard D. Cox have five children: Forest Hugh, Christine May, Dorothy Ellen, Mary Frances and William Arthur. ______________________________X-Message: #2 Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 20:16:55 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991110201655.00bdc150@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SHOMO, Barbour County, WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 306 Barbour BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SHOMO has been the source of a large amount of the business energy and enterprise that have made the town of Junior a good place to live in. He is an interesting example of what an ambitious young man without capital beyond his own earnings and savings can accomplish in the span of a few years. His family has been in West Virginia from the early history of the state. In Colonial times the Shomos came to America from Germany, and the family was estab- lished in West Virginia from the eastern part of the Old Dominion. The grandfather of the Junior business man was Joseph Shomo, probably a native of Barbour County. He was a blacksmith and farmer, and had a shop near Junior on his farm. During the Civil war he was a blacksmith in the service of the Union Army. There have been numerous mechanics in the family, especially blacksmiths and carpenters. George N. Shomo had a limited education, but was a skilled workman and a good citizen. He was a Methodist and a republican. He married Jennie Viquesne, sister of L. N. and Jules A. Viquesne, mentioned elsewhere. His sisters and brothers were Charles, John, Ivy (who became the wife of Stephen Daniels), Irvin V. and Miss Sarah. Frank Shomo, who is known by that brief name in- stead of his full Christian name, was born in Barbour County, August 9, 1877, and is a son of George N. Shomo, a native of the same county. He was reared in Barker District, attended the common schools, and expended his early efforts on the farm. On reaching his majority he learned the trade of barber in Junior, and for several years was proprietor of a shop. This was the business that gave him his first capital, and he used it to take up photography, maintaining his art gallery for a num- ber of years, his son finally succeeding him. At different intervals Mr. Shomo also worked in the coal mines around Junior. He had an ambition to become a coal operator, and finally, with C. W. Sandridge, established the City Grove Coal Company and developed one of the producing mines at Junior. They operated the plant together for some time, and are still interested as owners of the lease and part of the property. Another direction taken by Mr. Shomo'a enterprise was the moving picture business. In 1912, with Walter Bales, he put on the first show at Junior and unrolled the first reel of pictures in the town. The opening night convinced the firm of the popularity of their venture, and Mr. Shomo has continued in the business ever since. The original plant was destroyed by fire in 1914, but was immediately rebuilt. Mr. Shomo is also associated with the Willys Light Plants Agency, for the sale of domes- tie light plants. His son has recently taken a course of practical instruction at Toledo, the home of the business, for the installation of these plants. Mr. Shomo was one of the first stockholders and is a director of the Merchants and Miners Bank of Junior. He has served on the Town Council, and in politics is a republican, casting his first vote for McKinley in 1900. In Barbour County in 1901 Mr. Shomo married Miss Icie M. Row, who was born at what is now the town of Junior, being the youngest of the family of two daughters of Jackson and Mary (Fitzgerald) Row. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Shomo is the son Cecil, who for several years has been an active associate of his father. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 20:16:17 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991110201617.00bde1d0@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: CHARLES A. SINSEL, M. D., Barbour County, WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 305-306 Barbour CHARLES A. SINSEL, M. D. A thoroughly trained and educated physician and surgeon, Doctor Sinsel rendered his first service with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and this connection broadened into a permanent one. Por over thirty years he has been medical examiner of this railroad company at Grafton. In the choice of this line of service there was doubtless exercised some influence from his father, who for many years was a local official of the Baltimore & Ohio. Three Sinsel brothers came to America as British soldiers to fight the colonists in their struggle for independence. They were captured, and eventually found it congenial to their interests to remain in America, where they found useful employment in their trades as millwrights. They settled in Virginia. Elijah, son of one of these soldiers, was a native of Old Virginia and transplanted the family over the mountains to West Virginia, settling near Web- ster, in what is now Taylor County. There he obtained a large tract of land, put some of it into cultivation dur- ing his lifetime, and was buried at the family plot there. John Sinsel, a son of Elijah and grandfather of Doctor Sinsel, likewise spent his life on the homestead near Web- ster and was laid to rest on the farm. His wife was Sarah Curry, a native of Barbour County. Their children were: Harmon, who became a civil engineer; William, Elijah and James, who were farmers; Mrs. Mary Ann Newlon; and Mrs. Williamson. Arthur Sinsel, another of these children, was born on a farm near Pruntytown, Taylor County, in August, 1838, and was educated in the country schools and old Prunty- town College. He then taught school and learned the trade of cabinet-maker and carpenter with an uncle in Prunty- town. When the Civil war came on he was commissioned a lieutenant in the army, but he was soon detailed for civilian service in the bridge-building department of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. This fixed him in the service with which he remained to the close of his life. For many years he was supervisor of buildings, bridges and water stations. He. was killed by being run over by an engine in the Wheeling yards January 25, 1889. While never an applicant for the honors or offices, he was active in republican polities, a member of the State Republican Committee several years and also of the Ex- ecutive Committee. For thirty years he was president of the Board of Education of Grafton District, was a deacon of the Baptist Church and a worker in the Sunday School, and was an ardent Mason, being a past grand high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter of the state. Arthur Sinsel married Hannah B. See, who was born in Randolph County, West Virginia, December 31, 1837, daugh- ter of Charles and Harriet (Bosworth) See. The Bos- worths, an old family of the state, were direct descendants of the famous Warwicks of England. Mrs. Arthur Sinsel, who died in August, 1893, was the mother of eight children, the seven to reach mature years being: Columbia M., who was the wife of the late Judge A. G. Dayton; Miss Abbie T., of Grafton; Dr. Charles Arthur; Ada, wife of the dis- tinguished Judge Ira E. Robinson, former judge of the State Supreme Court of Appeals and now connected with the Department of Justice at Washington; John W., who was United States revenue agent at New York for years and died at Philadelphia in 1919; Miss Mary H., of Graf- ton; and Carrie S., wife of C. Frank Sellers, of Mansfield, Ohio. Charles Arthur Sinsel was born at Pruntytown, Taylor County, June 5, 1864, and may be said to have grown up in the atmosphere of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. While attending school he worked during vacations at civil engi- neering and at the machinist's trade. Following his pub- lic school course at Grafton came two years in West Vir- ginia University and two years in Dennison University at Granville, Ohio. For a year he studied medicine under Dr. William L. Grant at Grafton, and then entered the University of Maryland, at Baltimore, where he was grad- uated in medicine in 1888. His first duties after getting his medical diploma were as Baltimore & Ohio medical examiner for the west end of the Chicago division, including that city, his head- quarters being at Garrett, Indiana. About a year later, on the death of his father, he returned home, and in a short time was inducted into the duties of medical exam- iner for the Monongah division and part of the Charles- ton division of the Baltimore & Ohio, and he has continued faithful and efficient in the discharge of his duties at this post for a third of a century. He is a member of the county and state medical societies, the American Med- ical Association, and the Railway Surgeons Association. Doctor Sinsel is one of West Virginia's prominent Ma- sons. He has taken all the work of the York and Scottish Kites and held offices in all the local bodies; is a K. C. C. H., a member of West Virginia Consistory at Wheeling, is a Past Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar, West Virginia, a life member of the Grand Encampment of the United States, and is inner guard of Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also affiliated with the Odd Fellows and Elks, is a deacon of the Baptist Church of Grafton and teacher of the Philathia Bible Class. He has rather strengthened the ties that bound him by inheritance to the republican party. His first public serv- ice was as school commissioner for four years, then a sim- ilar time as president of the Board of Education. In 1914 he was elected to the House of Delegates for one term, and then elected a member of the State Senate. He entered that body under Lieutenant Governor Goodykoontz, and in the second session appeared as an eleventh hour candidate for president of the Senate, and after an interesting eon- test was elected. He went to the Senate as successor of a democrat who for eight years had represented the Eleventh District composed of Marion, Monongalia and Taylor coun- ties. He gave a studious and impartial attention to the program of legislation before that body, and at the special session was active in behalf of woman's suffrage. Doctor Sinsel was a spectator in the national convention at Chi- cago in 1884 when James G. Blaine was nominated, and he has been a delegate to a number of state, judicial and congressional conventions. He did much to defeat the as- pirations of such well-known democrats as William L. Wil- son and William G. Brown to represent the Second District in Congress. April 4, 1889, Doctor Sinsel married in Taylor County Miss Bertie Creel, daughter of J. W. and Mary (Whites- carver) Creel. She died in February, 1897, the mother of two children: Charles A., Jr., connected with the Cambria Coal Company; and Lila, wife of D. L. Gather, of Fleming- ton. On June 19; 1901, Doctor Sinsel married May David- son, daughter of C. L. and Mary M. (Johnson) Davidson. Doctor and Mrs. Sinsel have twin sons, Rupert Austin and Richard Claudius, aged seventeen, and graduates of the Grafton High School in 1922. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 20:24:22 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19991110202422.00bdc810@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: CLIFTON W. SANDRIDGE, Barbour County, WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 306-307 Barbour CLIFTON W. SANDRIDGE. The career of Mr. Sandridge represents a service of nearly thirty years to the great West Virginia coal industry. He has been mechanic and machinist, practical miner, superintendent and operator, and hardly anything important involved in the problems of coal mining in this state have escaped his experience. For a number of years his interests have been centered at Junior in Barbour County, where he is president of the Big Chief Coal Company. Mr. Sandridge was born in Union District, Upshur County, December 12, 1871. His father John Frederick Sandridge, who was born at Monterey in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in June, 1844, and was eight years of age when his parents, Lindsay and Lucy (Smith) Sandridge, moved to Upshur County, where Lindsay spent the rest of his life on his farm near Buckhannon. The three sons and two daughters of Lindsay Sandridge were: Sophie, who married Kinsey Ward and died in Upshur County; Luther, who was a Union soldier four years, and died in Upshur County; Jesse, whose life was spent in that county; John F.; Cornelia, who mar- ried David Oldaker, and died in Upshur County. John F. Sandridge had few school advantages when a boy. He was only seventeen when he became a soldier of the Confederacy. Thus he differed from his brother in course of allegiance, and this was one of many families represented on both sides of the war. He was in General Lee's army, participated in many of the historic battles of the Virginia campaigns, but only once was wounded, by a spent ball which struck his right shin. The wound, though a minor one, always gave him trouble and eventually caused his death. After the war he followed farming and finally retired to Atlantic, West Virginia, where he died August 5, 1905. In Barbour County, 1867, he married Miss Almanza Layman, daugh- ter of Wesley Layman. She died in Upshur County October 26, 1895, mother of the following children: Rosa, deceased wife of Jeff D. Kuhn; May, who married George Stilwell, of Grafton; Lee J., president of the Meriden Coal Mining Company of Philippi; Clifton Wade, of Junior; Annie L., wife of B. T. Duckworth, of Barbour Connty; Willis H., deputy state mine inspector living at Grafton; Apalona, who married Arthur Hoffman; Grace, who died in Upshur County, wife of .Fred Wilson; Prank, superintendent of the Will Lukins Coal Company of Upshur County; and Bessie, who died in infancy. Clifton Wade Sandridge lived on the farm with his parents until he was seventeen years of age, and in the meantime had attended the free schools a term or so every year. When he left home his first employment was in construction work of the grade of the Baltimore and Ohio branch from Buckhannon up to the Buckhannon River to Pickens. His salary was $1.35 for ten hours of work. Following that he worked three years at com- mon labor around saw mills, part of the time with the Alexander Lumber Company and then for O. P. Stroh. After that he returned to the Baltimore and Ohio railroad as one of its bridge repair force. This is a brief summary of his practical experience before he took up the coal mine industry. His first work in that field was as carpenter for a company operating at Berryburg, and after a year he became machinist for the same company, and thus served two years. For another two years he was machinist for the Meriden Coal Company. For two years he was superintendent of the Atlantic and Irona in Preston County for the J. H. Weaver Coal Company. Returning to the Meriden Coal Company, he was for two years superintendent of its mine, and he then left West Virginia and after riding practically across the continent became superintendent of a mine at Gebo, Montana, where he remained eighteen months. On returning East Mr. Sandridge entered the service of the Davis Colliery Company, now the West Virginia Coal and Coke Company, but the mine in which he was employed soon closed and for two following years he was superin- tendent of the Raleigh Coal and Coke Company at Raleigh. Since 1899 Mr. Sandridge's working experience has been in Junior, Barbour County. Here he engaged in merchandising and for two years or more sold goods. For eight months he was in the service of Arnold Brothers, prospecting a tract of land for coal. For three months he was a practical miner, digging coal for the Davis Coal and Coke Company. Mr. Sandridge became an independent coal operator in 1917, associated with B. F. Shomo, under the name of D. M. Sandridge Coal Company, operating the City Grove Mine. This mine was an active producer for about three years. In the meantime Mr. Sandridge became associated with G. W. Shomo, W. V. McIntyre and Ed Everhart in opening a new mine, the Big Chief, at Junior, which has been in active operation since the early part of 1921. Mr. Sandridge has been personally interested in some of the enterprises at Junior requiring co-operation on the part of all progressive business men and citizens. His action in assuming the purchase of a block of un- sold stock assured the success of the move to organize the Merchants and Miners Bank of Junior, and he is still a stockholder in that institution, which has grown and prospered. He served two terms as a member of the Town Council of Junior, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. Mr. Sandridge cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland in 1892. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for two years he was president of the Board of Stewards and is now superintendent of the Sunday School. May 2, 1900, in Preston County, Mr. Sandridge mar- ried Miss Dosia May White, who was born near King- wood, October 6, 1878, second among the six children of Jacob E. and Margaret (Feather) White, who were farmers in Preston County, and the daughter grew up on the farm and was educated in local schools. Her brothers and sisters were: Ida, Mrs. Walter Mont- gomery; Alice, wife of Walter Taylor; Sherman; Roy; Cora, wife of H. C. Daniels. Mr. and Mrs. Sandridge have four children, Ruth, Charles, Howard and Martha. Ruth is the wife of Cecil Shomo, and they have one child, Carroll.